Rogers: Were there ever clear interior, non flat grey, Toms on a Cleveland/Dayton era kit?

[Howstamychi]

Were there ever factory clear interior, non flat grey, Toms on a Cleveland/Dayton transition kit? Or was it possible for example to custom order Toms with clear interiors along with a Bass Drum with the standard grey?

 

[Bijan]

There are a few Ohio era kits with clear interiors out there. I believe they were employee kits.

 

[Howstamychi]

There are a few Ohio era kits with clear interiors out there. I believe they were employee kits.

Thank you!! Somewhere I believe I’ve heard that. Interesting.

 

[Powertone]

Could be employee, could be endorser, could be special order. The norm was flat grey interiors as you know.

 

[Howstamychi]

Could be employee, could be endorser, could be special order. The norm was flat grey interiors as you know.

Thanks for this info!

 

[idrum4fun]

I believe this is one of the kits you are referring to! It's a stunning "factory-new" 4pc that was purchased by an employee that didn't even play drums! This employee also requested clear maple interiors. As others have noted, the norm was flat gray paint. The exceptions were a "fruitwood stain" lacquer on the interior of Dynasonic wood-shell snare drums and gloss grey for Powertone wood-shell snare drums. Also, IIRC, some early shells even used black painted interiors! Buddy Rich even had extra coats of lacquer on his Dynasonic snare drums!

-Mark

 

[Howstamychi]

I believe this is one of the kits you are referring to! It's a stunning "factory-new" 4pc that was purchased by an employee that didn't even play drums! This employee also requested clear maple interiors. As others have noted, the norm was flat gray paint. The exceptions were a "fruitwood stain" lacquer on the interior of Dynasonic wood-shell snare drums and gloss grey for Powertone wood-shell snare drums. Also, IIRC, some early shells even used black painted interiors! Buddy Rich even had extra coats of lacquer on his Dynasonic snare drums!

-Mark

Thanks Mark. Great pictures and thanks for sharing. They turned out to be flat grey in the end the guy was looking at the reflection of the clear Evans Botton head and assumed they were clear. Good to have this info for the future.

 

[DanC]

I had an 18bass-12-14 kit, Cleveland tags, that had clear interiors. I got them in rough shape, but restored them to look very nice. There had been some paint sprayed in there somewhere along the way (those damn kids in the 70's!), but I got that off and saved the original clear insides. Unfortunately they needed to be rewrapped, but some vintage WMP made them look beautiful. I played many small-room gigs with that kit, they sounded great. The 14" floor tom, in particular, was a cannon.

After a few years, I sold them to the late Bruce Felter. He loved having them as he was an excellent
club-date type player and a real fan of Rogers. Anybody remember that picture of him with a few dozen Dynasonic snare drums?

They might have been an employee kit, or a special order for a regular customer, or something by request for an endorser. I always imagined Cozy Cole or some other famous early endorser as being the original owner of that kit, it put a smile on my face...

 

[Howstamychi]

I had an 18bass-12-14 kit, Cleveland tags, that had clear interiors. I got them in rough shape, but restored them to look very nice. There had been some paint sprayed in there somewhere along the way (those damn kids in the 70's!), but I got that off and saved the original clear insides. Unfortunately they needed to be rewrapped, but some vintage WMP made them look beautiful. I played many small-room gigs with that kit, they sounded great. The 14" floor tom, in particular, was a cannon.

After a few years, I sold them to the late Bruce Felter. He loved having them as he was an excellent
club-date type player and a real fan of Rogers. Anybody remember that picture of him with a few dozen Dynasonic snare drums?

They might have been an employee kit, or a special order for a regular customer, or something by request for an endorser. I always imagined Cozy Cole or some other famous early endorser as being the original owner of that kit, it put a smile on my face...

There’s a lot to love about vintage drums. Playing them is the best but collecting and restoring and sleuthing is great too. Cool story thank you.